1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rear attachment lens that can be detachably attached to an imaging lens (main lens system) used in, for example, a digital still camera, a video camera, or a broadcasting camera, at an image side of the main lens system to lengthen a focal length of the entire system from an initial focal length of the main lens system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A rear attachment lens that can be detachably attached to a main lens system is known. Specifically, a rear attachment lens is lens extension of sorts that can be removably attached to another lens, which is an imaging lens (imaging optical system), at an image side of the main lens system to lengthen a focal length of the entire system from a focal length of the main lens system itself.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,359, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-106715, U.S. Pat. No. 6,124,981, and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-226648 disclose rear attachment lenses that can be attached to a main lens system at an image side thereof to lengthen a focal length of the main lens system.
In a telephoto lens, for which a rear attachment lens is often used, aberrations, in particular, chromatic aberrations, tend to increase as the focal length increases. Therefore, in the case where the rear attachment lens is attached to a main lens system including the telephoto lens, a chromatic aberration of magnification of the main lens system increases. The thus-increased chromatic aberration of magnification serves as the main cause of reduction in image quality.
In addition, the rear attachment lens has a negative refractive power, and the rear attachment lens itself has a large negative Petzval sum. Therefore, when the rear attachment lens is attached to the main lens system, a field curvature increases.